Recent years have seen an increase in worldwide global temperatures. The result of the increasing global temperatures is that many places and people around the world experience uncomfortably hot seasonal temperatures especially during the summer months. Finding respite from the uncomfortable temperatures often means staying indoors and being blanketed by the cooling affects of air-conditioned air. For those forced to venture outdoors, “air conditioning” is not typically available. Some relief from the uncomfortable outside temperatures can be obtained by finding a shaded area not in direct sunlight. However, in some cases, even shaded areas do not provide sufficient cooling, especially if, for example, the temperature in the shade is 100° F. or higher. As such, much effort and resources are being focused on developing techniques for cooling persons who are forced to endure uncomfortably hot seasonal temperatures when outdoors.
One such technique provides cooling by exploring the cooling properties of evaporating mist. Cooling occurs when mist droplets impinge upon a target and are evaporated into the surrounding air. Additional cooling takes place if the liquid itself is very cold relative to the surrounding air. Further, an object or observer may be additionally cooled if an air stream transports the liquid to an observer, and the air stream blows on the user so as to accelerate the evaporation process.
The evaporative temperature change results from the process whereby droplets of the liquid extract heat energy from the air and use the energy to change the phase of the droplet from liquid to vapor. Thus the temperature change is achieved without the introduction of external refrigeration power, unlike cooling systems which extract heat from the refrigeration system component(s). In contrast, when a droplet evaporates, the latent heat energy expended in vaporization is drawn from the warm air, which accounts for the temperature drop.
It is well known that with a given mixture of the air and water, the temperature achieved by evaporative cooling varies with the initial dryness of the ambient air. For example, given dry warm air at 95° F. (35° C.) and 20 percent relative humidity, atomizing ambient temperature water therein can drop the temperature of the mixture to as low as 66° F. (19° C.). Similarly, if the same ambient air at 95° F. has a relative humidity of 50 percent, then atomizing the water reduces the temperature of the mixture to about 80° F. (27° C.). As should be easily understood, atomizing a cooled water source into ambient air reduces the temperature of the resulting air-water mixture even further. Where tap water from the domestic supply is used as a water source, the tap water will be relatively cool after flowing for a time. As such, many inventions, which use atomized water as a cooling source, make use of ordinary tap water as a cooling agent. The prior art systems, however, contain various deficiencies, in that the systems are often too inconvenient or not fully portable, as described below.
With the above in mind, many prior art systems incorporate a fine mist or spray as the primary cooling agent. For example, one conventional method for providing a mist or spray for cooling is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,132, issued Jun. 4, 2002, to Junkel. The Junkel patent generally discloses a portable spray misting device, which is fully handheld when operated. The device includes an internally hollowed body capable of holding a volume of fluid to be dispensed. The liquid is dispensed when a user manually pulls a trigger disposed alongside the hollowed body, which causes the liquid to be drawn toward a spray dispensing head for projecting the liquid as a mist into fan blades of a fan unit. The fan unit, in turn, dispenses the mist into the atmosphere, and onto a user, thereby cooling the user through mist evaporative principles.
The invention of the Junkel patent is suitable for users who wish to achieve personal cooling, since it ordinarily may be used by only one user at a time using one hand. However, the Junkel invention is deficient in that users must operate the invention manually, typically leaving only one hand to perform everyday tasks. That is, since the Junkel invention requires the use of at least one user hand to operate, the user of the Junkel invention will be limited in the activities the user may perform while staying cool. Thus, an invention is needed which cools a user without user assistance or user manipulation, thereby freeing the user to perform various other activities.
A typical invention, which cools a user without user assistance, is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,371, issued Mar. 25, 1997, to Nelson. The Nelson patent generally discloses a method and apparatus for misting vehicle occupants by providing a fine spray of water into the air inside and surrounding the vehicle. In accordance with Nelson, a pumping system forces water from a water reservoir on board the vehicle through mister nozzles. When attached to a vehicle, the Nelson invention cools the vehicle occupants while permitting the occupants to perform other activities. For example, where the Nelson invention is affixed to a golf cart, the occupants are cooled when being transported from golf stroke to golf stroke.
Similar systems are disclosed for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,703, issued Dec. 20, 1994, to Pal, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,907, issued Nov. 28, 2000, to Hale. The aforementioned Nelson, Pal, and Hale systems are sufficient for cooling a vehicle occupant while the occupant is seated therein. However, the systems are not suitable for cooling the occupant when the occupant exits the vehicle, such as, for example, when the user must leave the vehicle to engage in an outside activity. For example, where a user installs the aforementioned system on a golf cart while golfing, the user must typically exit the vehicle to advance the ball down the course. As such, the Nelson, Pal and Hale systems are not suitable for cooling persons situated on the outside of a vehicle.
One method for cooling a user outside a vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,104, issued Jul. 19, 1994, to Marcus. The Marcus patent generally discloses a self-contained portable mister which may mist an outdoors environment without assistance or intervention from a user. The portable misting apparatus includes a self-priming pump disposed inside a soundproof housing. The housing may include an operable lid and pivotable carrying handle. The invention further includes a rechargeable battery for powering the pump and a solar cell array disposed in the operable lid for recharging the battery. Liquid is supplied to the invention by drawing the liquid from a reservoir, such as a lake, stream, pond, swimming pool, ice chest, bucket, or the like, which is remote to the location of the invention housing. Alternatively, the invention may be adapted to provide the liquid from a pressure source of water. The pump further provides the liquid to a misting wand, which conveys the liquid to a plurality of misting nozzles. The housing of the Marcus invention further includes a cavity suitable for storage of a misting wand, when the invention is not in use.
One problem with the Marcus invention, however, is that a solar cell battery powers the invention. It is well known that solar cell batteries need the advent of light (e.g., sunlight or direct sunlight) for recharging and for continuous operation. Thus, the Marcus invention would necessarily have limited use when used in shaded environments or environments where light is limited. As such, a need exists for a mister system which can be used irrespective of whether the system is placed in direct light, or in a shaded area.
In addition, as a source for providing the cooling liquid, the Marcus invention uses a reservoir, such as a lake, stream, pond, swimming pool, ice chest, bucket, or the like, located remote to, and in communication with, the invention housing. To operate the Marcus invention, a user must provide the cooling liquid to the invention by, for example, locating the invention near a source of water (e.g., lake, stream, etc.) or to bringing the water to the invention (e.g., ice chest, bucket, etc.). As such, for example, the Marcus invention is limited in its portability, in that the user must determine the location of the liquid supply when deciding the location of invention usage, and the user may ordinarily have to supply the liquid supply in the form of a reservoir positioned externally to the invention housing. Therefore, a need exists for a more portable misting system, such as, a misting system which permits usage without requiring the user to supply an externally positioned cooling liquid source.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,502, issued Jul. 10, 2001, to Hanish, et al., is a conventional example of a system which cools a user without user assistance, and which does not require the user to transport a cooling source to the system. In accordance with Hanish, an integrated multi-head misting device is provided which is removably attached to a household faucet or garden hose for receiving a cooling liquid. A misting fan is provided which includes a fan shroud including a grille and fan blades for permitting an air stream therethrough, where the air stream results from fan blade operation. A misting device is secured to the fan hub, and a plurality of misting heads are secured to the fan housing for directing a spray of mist across a fan grille. When the mist is projected into the air stream, the blowing action of the fan blades directs the mist away from the device and into the direction of an invention user.
Power is supplied to the Hanish fan via a typical outlet, and the mist is provided via a pressurized source. The mist is injected across the fan grille via a misting manifold which directs the liquid through the misting heads. That is, no pump, or electricity of powering the pump, is required for providing the cooling liquid to the misting heads. More particularly, no solar powered batter is required as with, for example, the Marcus patent noted above. In that regard, the Hanish invention provides advantages over the Marcus invention in that the Hanish invention is not dependent on direct light for operation, but instead may be operated in a relatively shaded area.
The cooling liquid is supplied to the Hanish invention by connecting the invention to a pressurized water supply, such as, a faucet or garden hose. Consequently, the Hanish invention still includes a similar disadvantage as Marcus, in that the invention must be operated near, or connected to, a cooling liquid source. As such, the Hanish invention, like the Marcus invention, does not provide a totally portable mister device.
The Hanish invention includes the additional disadvantage in that the area of airflow created by the Hanish fan blades limits the area of dispersion of the cooling mist. Thus, where the fan blades blow air to a maximum area in front of the fan, the cooling liquid, which is transported by the air stream, will only travel over that area. Further, unless the Hanish invention is positioned above a user, such that the mist droplets may settle on the user, the user would necessarily need to be directly in the air stream flow in order to be properly cooled. Further still, when used with conventional household fans, the Hanish invention is typically suitable for cooling only a limited number of people at any one time.
Another conventional misting device of similar operation as Hanish, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,633, issued Mar. 12, 1996, to Hensley. The Hensley patent generally discloses an indoor/outdoor evaporative cooling unit which is inflatable via flexible walls. The flexible walls form a partially sealed enclosure for making the invention more portable when deflated. The cooling unit includes an inner wall and an outer wall of thin flexible material. A fan forces ambient air from an inlet through a flow divider, which directs some of the flow into the enclosure and the remainder of the flow into a chamber to exhaust through a chamber outlet. Spray nozzles are attached to the enclosure and aimed to spray a coolant, such as water, into the air exhausting through the outlet.
In essence, the Hensley invention operates by drawing in a steady flow of ambient air through an intake, and exhausting the drawn air through a ring of nozzles spraying a coolant into the exhaust stream. The coolant (e.g., water) is supplied to the invention via a pressurized water source or by suitable flexible flow connections and a pump. In one embodiment, the combination of the chamber design and the positioning of the spray nozzles permits the Hensley mister to spray a mist at the chambers outlet, which is modestly sized for permitting service of multiple users on, for example, a walk-by basis. That is, one embodiment of the Hensley invention is similar to the Hanish invention in that it is only suitable for cooling only a limited number of people at any one time. In an alternate embodiment, however, the Hensley invention may be adapted for use in simultaneously cooling multiple persons by including multiple outlet pairs in the chamber and arranging the spray nozzles such that the nozzles are mounted in a middle of an outlet pair. This, in turn, permits the Hensley invention to create a billowing stream or cloud with a greater effective cooling range than a typical mist or stream.
Although the Hensley invention provides for the production of a cooling cloud for cooling multiple users, the users must typically walk through or under the point of discharge of the coolant to be cooled down. In that regard, the Hensley invention, while providing a means for cooling multiple users, does not cool the users simultaneously.
Accordingly, a need exists for a mister for cooling multiple users simultaneously, which is completely portable, does not require user assistance for operation, and which may be used in any light.